Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain said on Monday that just one day`s stock of Covaxin and 3-4 days` stock of Covishield for those in the 18-44 age-group are left in Delhi. If the stock position does not improve immediately, the AAP government may be forced to shut down the centres administering Covaxin for this age-group after Tuesday evening.

"Delhi is facing an acute shortage of vaccines...We really want the entire population of Delhi to be vaccinated and are conducting a mass vaccination drive," Jain said while inspecting a 400-bed Covid isolation and treatment centre set up at Rakabganj Gurdwara by Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee. It has been attached to Lok Nayak Hospital.

Speaking elsewhere, AAP MLA Atishi said the Delhi government will be forced to shut down the centres administering Covaxin (for the 18-44 age-group) after Tuesday evening.

Centre Is Overlooking Vaccination Needs Of Citizens, Claims Sisodia

Similarly, we will have to close down the centres administering Covishield after four days,” she said. Covaxin is available only for six days and Covishield for 5 days for those above 45 years and healthcare workers. The AAP leader hoped that the central government would supply the vaccines at the earliest.

Addressing a separate press conference, deputy CM Manish Sisodia launched an attack on the Centre over vaccine distribution. Sisodia said the Centre was overlooking the vaccine needs of the citizens. He said that though Delhi had placed an order for 1.34 crore vaccines, the Centre had distributed only 3.5 lakh vaccines in May. He said the BJP government gives unlimited vaccines to foreign nations but restricts the supply for Indian citizens.

Claiming that the Centre had exported 6.5 crore doses of vaccines to foreign countries, Sisodia said the central government has insinuated that the Delhi government had asked for only 5.5 lakh doses which is a complete lie served to the people of this nation in times of a crisis.

Presenting documents procured from vaccine companies and signed letters ed from the central government, Sisodia said: “After the Centre decided in April that state governments can directly tie up with vaccine companies, the Delhi government released a letter to acquire 1.34 crore vaccine doses for citizens between 18-45 yrs. But instead of receiving vaccines, the Delhi government received a letter from the central government stating that we would get just 3.59 lakh vaccines out of which 92,840 doses were of Covaxin and 26,7690 doses of Covishield.”

Sisodia said it is the central government which ultimately decides how many vaccine doses will be distributed among states and sent to other countries. “If 6.5 crore doses had been administered to the people of our country, we would have been able to save lives of many Indians,” he said.

Meanwhile, the BJP asked the AAP government to explain how many vaccines it had actually ordered. BJP spokperson Sambit Patra released copies of letters saying that they were letters of intent to purchase and couldn’t be passed off as orders.

Atishi, however, said the Delhi government has already placed orders for 1.4 crore vaccines with Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute of India (SII) and added that payments are being made by the Delhi government immediately as and when the vials are arriving.

Sisodia accused the Centre of being interested only in exporting vaccines to foreign countries. He asked the central government to put an end to “politics of lies and deception” and understand that the country is in a full-fledged crisis. “They need to open their eyes to all the suffering and pain people of this nation are facing because of this deadly virus,” Sisodia said.

“When the whole nation was in agony due to Covid-19, the central government was busy fighting elections in Bengal and created superspreaders by organising the Kumbh Mela. Now, when it’s time to actually step up and save lives, the central government is busy managing its image internationally and exporting vaccines abroad. This apathy of the central government is a grave crime. I request the central government to open its eyes to all the suffering and immediately make vaccines available in large numbers to states instead of mismanaging the crisis and indulging in politics of lies,” Sisodia said.

Delhi is administering the Covid vaccine on a large scale. Those between 18-45 years of age are being inoculated at 96 locations while those above 45 years and healthcare and frontline workers are getting the jab at 374 locations.

Meanwhile, Jain said in the past few days, not only has the positivity rate been decreasing but there has also been a decline in the number of cases. “There was a time when Delhi was recording approximately 28,000 cases. This has fallen to around 13,000. The 36% positivity rate has now fallen to nearly 20%. We hope the spread will reduce. Nevertheless, we should not cut back on our preparations and need to continue to protect ourselves in every possible way. This has been India’s second wave but is the fourth one for Delhi,” said Jain.

If You Like This Story, Support NYOOOZ

NYOOOZ SUPPORTER

₹ 10 - ₹ 1000

NYOOOZ FRIEND

₹ 2000 - ₹ 5000

Your support to NYOOOZ will help us to continue create and publish news for and from smaller cities, which also need equal voice as much as citizens living in bigger cities have through mainstream media organizations.